IFAO: Soil Health & Nutrient Management Challenge
The Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario searched for innovative solutions that could improve farmers’ ability to implement better nutrient management while improving soil health.
CHALLENGE LAUNCH: NOVEMBER 2022
Harnessing Sustainable Innovation to Improve Crop Outcomes
The Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario's Soil Health and Nutrient Management Challenge aimed to revolutionize agriculture in Ontario by finding innovative solutions to enhance crop yields, reduce environmental impact, and support sustainable farming practices.
With a focus on real-world applications and farmer collaboration, the Challenge Winner's resulting pilot contributed to a targeted 30 per cent reduction in nitrogen emissions in the Great Lakes area.
Learn more about this Challenge below.
Challenge Statement & Opportunity
Healthy, nutrient-dense soil leads to higher crop yields and increased profitability for farmers. However, the average field crop operation faces significant challenges in maintaining soil health and nutrient levels, including:
- Nitrogen loss through leaching, runoff, and volatilization
- Skilled labour shortages
- Unreliable fertilizer application advice
The Soil Health and Nutrient Management Challenge invited innovators to develop solutions that address these critical issues by:
- Improving the rate, timing, and placement of fertilizers
- Improving soil structure and water holding capacity
- Reducing erosion
Successful solutions were eligible for:
- Three year, on-farm pilot projects across three+ Ontario farms (averaging 1000 acres in production, on field trials between five acres and 100 acres) on various soil types.
- Up to $20,000/year, to a maximum of $60,000 over three years. 1:1 investment or in-kind match from winner(s) is encouraged but not required.
Solution & Winner
Picketa Systems was the Challenge Winner with their groundbreaking solution for real-time plant tissue nutrient analysis.
Their LENS solution is pivotal in advancing precision nutrient management. By enabling agronomists to perform real-time leaf tissue sample analysis, LENS provides detailed insights into nutrient levels within plants and specific areas of a farm.
This technology ensures more precise and informed decision-making in agricultural practices.
"Winning the Soil Health Challenge has given us a great opportunity to showcase our innovative solutions and demonstrate how they can benefit farmers in Ontario and beyond.
Our technology has the potential to help farmers optimize their operations, by providing real-time insights into crop nutrient levels, and helping to maximize irrigation and fertilizer use. We are excited to work with farmers in Ontario to help them increase yields, reduce costs, and improve sustainability."
Xavier Hébert Couturier, Picketa Systems
The Partner
As a collective of perceptive, innovative, and resourceful farmers, the Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario (IFAO) has been promoting soil health in Ontario agriculture for over 30 years. They are focused on environmental and financial sustainability, supporting innovations in agriculture through connection and collaboration with farmers.
IFAO facilitates idea exchanges and collaborates to test and develop innovation to support the betterment of Ontario’s agricultural sector.
Finding solutions that improve soil health and nutrient management will benefit agriculture and the environment.
We're very happy to have worked with Foresight Canada to select and connect two ventures with strong solutions in store for Ontario agriculture.
Challenge Background & Barriers to Adoption
Ontario farmers identified the following barriers to adoption. Successful solutions should have overcome these critical barriers to adoption for soil health and 4R nutrient stewardship practices:
1
Water Budgets
Successful proposals will have strong methods for managing the use of their solutions with varying water budgets.
2
Profitability
Profitability in the year that a technology or product is used is key. Applicants should consider how their solution might fit into existing networks of cooperative management or custom operations.
3
Soil Health Assessments
Soil health assessments need to be transparent, actionable, and comparable. The OMAFRA Soil Health Assessment Protocol is the preferred means of assessing changes in soil health. A minimum three year commitment is required to properly determine changes in soil health.
4
Skilled Labour Shortages
There is a significant skilled labour shortage in agriculture. Skills training and simplicity of solutions is key to successful adoption.
5
Weather Uncertainties
Information must be available on the effectiveness of a product under the wide variety of weather conditions. Predicting rainfall is a significant challenge directly affecting how accurate and economical farmers can be with their nitrogen placement.
6
On-Farm Trials
Farmers will not readily adopt technologies or solutions that come out of controlled trials and greenhouse studies. Solutions must come from on-farm trials.
7
Farmer-to-Farmer Translation
The strongest solutions will empower farmers to share their knowledge with their peers through education and outreach events.
8
Nutrient Management Plans
Nutrient management plans are not required of field crop farmers in Ontario. Solutions requiring a nutrient management plan must be prepared to support farmers through a new and often daunting process.
9
Fertilizer Consultation Resources
Farmers appreciate independent information on fertilizer rates and applications in order to trust that they are applying the most economical rate.
Evaluation & Eligibility:
A successful solution must be scaleable for the average field crop operation in Ontario (1000 acres), running three+ active pilot projects over a minimum three year period. The solution should:
- Be profitable for the average field crop farmer in Ontario in the first year, at relatively low implementation costs
- Improve nutrient management and soil health simultaneously
- Fit easily into existing farm operations with little skill improvements required
- Address weather uncertainties either directly through predictive technology or indirectly through technology use methodology, taking various water budgets into account
Eligible solutions must have met the following criteria:
- Be applicable to a Canadian agriculture context
- Demonstrate improvement in nutrient management and soil health
- TRL 6-9
Updates
September 2024: Expanding Impact
Challenge winner, Picketa Systems, has made significant strides in adapting its LENS technology to Ontario crops like corn and onions. Initially developed for potato crops, Picketa has been expanding its reach through various indoor and outdoor trials. Future plans include adding support for more crops such as carrots and celery.
A major milestone has been the quantification of LENS' impact on emissions and farming inputs through trials comparing traditional farming methods with LENS-informed fertilization schedules. These trials, conducted alongside the University of Guelph, will provide results later this fall, and are expected to help Picketa expand further into new markets. The company is now operating on farms across Canada and in 13 U.S. states.
December 2023: Next Steps
Picketa Systems, in collaboration with the University of Guelph's Muck Research Station and Haggerty Ag Robotics, demonstrated their LENS technology, which provides comprehensive nitrogen management solutions for various crops. This project has significantly advanced nitrogen management practices in the Great Lakes area, contributing to a targeted 30 per cent reduction in nitrogen emissions.
Foresight and the IFAO are also exploring the possibility of bringing fellow-finalist FARMEYE on board for the pilot. We are actively looking at strategies to feed LENS tissue sample results into the FARMEYE platform to provide farmers with the data and analysis they need to make decisions for their farms.
Both Foresight and the IFAO are thrilled that this challenge will create not only on-the-ground results for farmers and improved soil health and nutrient management, but may also create the opportunity for two ventures to collaborate in a new way.
March 2023: Winners Announced
Picketa Systems was the Challenge Winner with their groundbreaking solution for real-time plant tissue nutrient analysis.
November 2022: Challenge Launches
It was such a pleasure working with IFAO to source viable solutions that improve soil health and nutrient management for Canadian farmers. Industry and innovators connecting through Challenges like this one is a clear pathway to solve urgent sustainability issues. If we are going to meet our lofty climate targets, this is the type of collaboration we need to see more of.
Our Partners
This Challenge is presented with support from the Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario, and founding agriNEXT partners Farm Credit Canada and Natural Products Canada.
Farm Credit Canada (FCC)‘s funding support for innovative technology and sustainable agriculture, in combination with Foresight’s proven accelerator model, are the keys to unlocking a green and resilient agricultural future for all Canadians. With the support of FCC, we are expanding our support for the agritech and agrifood innovation community and industry in Canada, with the launch of agriNEXT events and initiatives, and venture training courses.
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